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It never ceases to amaze me what a small world it is and how much smaller it gets all the time! Obviously with the increase in technology, the cyber world and “air space” is most definitely smaller, quicker and easier! But our actual physical connection to people and places is also seemingly smaller. Is it really or is that only what adults say? Do children in today’s world feel it too? Is it only because I am bigger, older? In any case, our lives are connected in ways we don’t even realize or always see. Any person, at any time either walking next to you or past you could have known someone you’ve known or may know currently. There may be a previous or future connection with someone within arm’s reach. As in my favorite movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” you will never know how many lives you will affect everyday and what would happen if you never touched them. So a man drove past the office with a new landscape business and came by to introduce himself. He starts saying how he got a wonderful owner contract on a property on the Island and on and on. Come to find out that the previous owner is a very good friend of mine! Another client called my phone number from a sign and came by later to chat about Real Estate and remembered that he chatted with my husband over the phone a few weeks previous! What are the odds that he would call my number from a random sign? A conversation while a couple was waiting in a line hundreds of miles away brings them to Camano; they stop by the office just to get a recommendation and information on a Bed and Breakfast. The conversation in the line was with a Camano Island resident who said how wonderful she loved her new home up here and that they should definitely visit. The resident I sold a home to several months earlier!! Real Estate activities and Pending sales have and continue to stay up now at 44 from 50 last week for Camano Island!! Those missing 6 Pending, went to closed sales which is still nearly one a day!! Strange, fascinating and such coincidental meetings and connections! I love my job! I meet so many interesting and unique people and most have become not only clients but friends for years. The continued stream of buyers in the current market continues not only on Camano but as well in Snohomish! With more and more people coming to the area, I am anxious to see what new connections will come and who I will meet next!! We will only be having our Club Friday for the next three weeks. This week the 23rd, I will be open without a sponsor due to some other engagements and next week, September 30th with a double Open House between Windermere and the Country Club Fire Station 4033 Local Fire Fighters!! We will end our season with Greenworks of Washington on October 7th. Come in Friday or any day of the week to see who you might meet!!
News from The Club – 9/12
Labor Day has come and gone. Now we remember 911! It never struck me before but did they plan the attack the same week as one of the biggest “American” Holidays? Was it supposed to be the week prior? It is a somber and inspirational day! Somber for the obvious reasons, yet inspirational that our people, our government however, clumsily or haphazardly pulled through strong and sound from the greatest homeland attack in our nation’s history from another country! Remembering 911 is different for everyone. My daughter asked me “What it meant to me to be an American” and I couldn’t answer! I was dumbfounded. I never thought of it. Always took it for granted. Even with having the privilege and experience of traveling to many different countries and seeing the differences. Every time I returned home realizing how fortunate I was with just the everyday enjoyments, I still could not put in words, what it actually meant! In some ways 10 years seems like such a long time and others like yesterday. What if cars were luxury and we had to walk or ride a bicycle every where? What if we could not travel on paved roads to get the items we needed or go to school and work? What if we could not choose the person we were to marry and have a life with? What if there were no major medical facilities or any way to pay for them? Think about the smallest every day event and think if you couldn’t do it? What if we could not buy and sell our own homes? I believe there are over 15,000 Realtors in the State of Washington alone. We complain about the market and the economy that has been depressed for the last few years. What would we do if there were no option at all? Real Estate activities and Pending sales have and continue to stay up even now at 50 for Camano Island!! The actual number is down from two weeks ago at 57 but we have also had 15 closed sales which is more than one a day!! Most agents in our Windermere offices have at least two or three current active buyers yet to have purchased as well! We are all grateful and thankful to have what we have and enjoy the little things, even if they don’t appear to be as good as they were before. I think we would all like to say “Thank You” to all our past, current and future clients for choosing Windermere for your Real Estate needs. Thank you also to all the other Brokers from other Firms for your continued professionalism and perseverance. As a small part of our Thanks, don’t forget Club Friday this week on 9/16 from 12-2 pm with Wells Fargo with the traditional and always FREE BBQ Lunch!! Hope to see you soon.
News from the Club – August 29, 2011
For the most part, a majority of us are feeling that summer in the Northwest has just begun the last few weeks with little or no rain, temperatures in the 70’s and sometimes 80’s. However, this week brings the start of the 2011/12 Stanwood/Camano School year and what is usually a sign of the end of summer! It is a little hard to believe that although the weather is here, summer is over and fall will soon begin. Hopefully we will experience another 30-45 days of this “Indian Summer” that will extend into October. This next weekend also brings Labor Day which is another tradition sign of the end of summer! Non-traditional is the late surge of Real Estate activities and Pending sales up even higher than last week now at 57 for Camano Island!! The influx of buyers is a welcome business trend for us and a slightly slow year. If the current rate of Pending sales continues we are hopeful to finish ahead of last years’ yearend sales!! Specifically for News from the Windermere Club Office, last week’s “Club Friday” Community Open House was another success with our sponsor Westside Pizza! Rising temperatures well into the 70’s made for a perfectly lovely afternoon in the sun. Due to everything happening this week starting out Monday and Tuesday with catch up from the weekend; Wednesday with the traditional Brokers Open Houses of new listings; Thursday the start of September and the new school year, Friday there will be no Club this week with a long three day Holiday weekend! Family and friends come together for traditional Labor Day BBQ’s and outdoor activities and the “last hooray” for the summer! We still experience low housing prices, low interest rates and improved sales. Even those homes that have been on the market for months, sometimes years which have been reduced to the “right” price have been getting offers and in most case multiple offers!! Smart and savvy buyers know that it is the right time to purchase and are doing most or all their research on the internet with visible increased website traffic and direct communications. It would serve well for agents to make sure that their photos are true and realistic representation of their listings and that their prices are sharp and thoroughly competitive. Whether by internet or any other means, we welcome all buyers and new clients to the Camano and Stanwood area and continue to be ready to help in one of what may be your biggest purchases and life changing events. Good luck for those returning to school, watch out for the children in the morning and Happy Labor Day!!!
Weekly News from the Club – August 22, 2011
The end of a super fantastic week and the start of another!! The Camano Island Real Estate market has been so “Hot” along with our gorgeous weather that I didn’t even have time for an update last week!! Perhaps it is the weather and perhaps it is the volatile stock market but desire has been high and interest rates continue to be low; low 4%’s and under 3% for some types of financing! Real Estate prices are continuing to stay low and be reduced and a lot of savvy buyers appear to be walking through the doors and calling their agents to purchase now. Some buyers have been relocating for work. Some are smart first time home buyers or those move up buyers that have equity. There are also a lot of investors; tired of the fluctuating stock market and looking for that long term investment proven to eventually pay off. Whatever the reason, we are grateful and excited. With 52 current Pending Sales on Camano Island alone we are seeing an amazing upward trend. All of our Windermere agents have been gearing up with current information, trends, competition and comparable sold statistics to help their clients and everyone make informed and wise choices. We have a wide variety of inventory and there is something for everyone! We are also continuing our goal of improving the Windermere Club office with better access, more information and our welcoming “Open House” type of atmosphere so our entire community can feel comfortable coming in whether they are buying, selling or simply needing advise. The prior week’s Club Friday Community Open House was a huge success sponsored by WAVE Broadband and Randy’s famous pulled pork BBQ, ribs, coleslaw and the works! Wow, follow up that with last week’s Club sponsored by Network Mortgage and Premier Designs Jewelry and near 80 degree weather. Every indication and premonition is that the busy, hot trend will continue in the weather and Real Estate! Come on down on Fridays or any day because we are “Cookin’ at the Club”!!!
Weekly News from the Club – August 8, 2011
Well, the Stanwood/Camano Fair is over and what a great last week and weekend! Lots of fun, lots of people and great weather! The Fair itself had some pretty exciting landmarks and the Parade on Saturday went off beautifully. Hope you all had a chance to see our Antique Fire Truck Float. What a great time! Good memories for our families, children and community! I didn’t grow up on Camano but have been here now going on 20 years. I remember growing in my home town and some of the fondest memories were of our annual City Festival with their own Parade, Carnival and Events! Good times!
It seems to me like the Fair is the beginning of the end of summer. There are only a few more weeks to cram in everything you’ve wanted to accomplish before the Labor Day Holiday and the start of school.
So let’s get on with a new week! This week on Camano and at the Club Office we gear back up for a very busy one! The extended weather forecast for the week shows clear and sunny from high 60’s to low 70’s! That is perfect for all the coming Events! Stop on in any day for free coffee and water, Real Estate statistics, Free Comparative Market Analysis’s, Wednesdays Open Houses and winding up the end of this week with Club Friday and our sponsor WAVE Broadband!
Since we have had a couple weeks off from our “Club Friday” Community Open House, we are hoping and planning that it will be bigger and better than ever. Come see us this Friday August 12, 2011 from noon to 2 pm to meet the WAVE team headed up by Justin and see what’s new. Of course, Free lunch will also be provided and we’re planning the best one yet with Randy’s slow smoked BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, dessert and drinks! If that isn’t enough for everyone, we will have Live Music again by Ford and his acoustic guitar.
If you haven’t been to a Club Friday, this week would be a great time to mark your calendar and make a point to come by. Tell your friends, family, neighbors, business associates and everyone that may be in the area to come and see us and keep that summer fun going!! Hope to see you all “any day” at the Club!!
Weekly News from the Club – Fair Week ’11
Unbelievable as it may seem it is already August 1st!! Where has the summer gone? There is so much to do and so little time. August and September are County and State Fair months throughout Washington. That includes our local Stanwood/Camano Fair always held the first weekend in August and this year the 5th-7th. In support of our community, Windermere always tries to be a large part of the Fair. Look for us this year with our new booth located across from the Grandstands. As part of the celebration don’t forget The Parade which will be held on Saturday August 6th starting at 11 am at the East End of Main Street in downtown Stanwood. For the past several years Windermere has decorated a Vintage Fire Truck as a Float for the parade and invited our local kids to ride along and toss candy! This year’s theme is a Tribute to the Military past, present and future and our Truck is already decorated and ready to go. Come by the Country Club Office and see her parked all week. Stop inside for a Fair Newspaper and the schedule of all the Events and everything that will be going on! See you at the Fair!!
New to the Blog!
Seems like everyone is on the web for one reason or another (working, shopping, fact-finding, communicating, browsing) and everyone is blogging…blog…blog…blog!!! Time to jump aboard! After three months as the new Branch Manager of the Windermere Office at the Country Club (or as we like to call it now just “The Club”) on Camano, there have been quite a few changes and it has been extremely busy. Things are happening and it is quite exciting! We need to get the word out to all our clients and community about the new, the old and what’s coming! My goal on the blog, as it is with the changes here at our office, is to become a Community Source of information and reliability. A place where everyone feels comfortable to come not only for all their Real Estate needs but current local events and community awareness. Located almost in the “Center” of Camano Island, we want to make our office your “Center” for information, activity and life line to all that is Camano Island! For Real Estate needs, of course we would really like you to visit one of our three offices between Stanwood and Camano and new listings are posted weekly. Each week I would like to post more that just a new listing but new information and exciting changes to invite you to come to Camano and stop in!
One of the newest and greatest additions to our office is the introduction of “Club Friday”! A chance for Windermere and a different local sponsor each week to give back to the Community. Every Friday, when advertised, we hold a Community Open House from noon to 2 pm and provide Free Lunch, Giveaways, Music, Networking and Fun for all of our friends, clients, families and neighbors just for stopping!
Great Day for a BBQ!
Hope to see you on a Friday or anytime. Keep up with the weekly posts to see what’s coming next!
Thanks
